Overview

• Six of the seven defendants in nucleus 4 submitted final defenses on Sept. 18, and the Supreme Court ordered the public defender’s office to immediately file for Ailton Moraes Barros.
• Defense teams request full acquittal, argue evidentiary fragility, contest Mauro Cid’s collaboration and testimony, and allege procedural hurdles such as delayed access to case files.
• Alexandre de Moraes kept four defendants in preventive custody this week—Gen. Mário Fernandes, Lt. Col. Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo, Lt. Col. Hélio Ferreira Lima, and federal agent Wladimir Matos Soares—citing lack of new facts and adequate medical care in custody where relevant.
• Prosecutors say nucleus 3, the so‑called “kids pretos,” operationalized a plan dubbed “Punhal Verde e Amarelo,” and they recently sought convictions for nine of the ten defendants in that group.
• Only the leadership nucleus has been tried and convicted so far, including Jair Bolsonaro’s 27‑year, 3‑month sentence, and court officials expect the remaining trials to be concluded by year‑end after the relator releases them for scheduling by Cristiano Zanin.